Former Miss USA Stirs Pot on ‘Real Housewives’

Kenya Moore’s dramatic, yet hilarious, antics on the “Real Housewives of Atlanta” have made her a household name.

The former Miss USA has criticized for practically begging her then boyfriend, Walter Jackson, to marry her. It was later reported that she had recruited him to pretend to be her boyfriend on the show. She also verbally assaulted and then almost got into a physical altercation with fellow new castmate Porsha Stewart and she stole Phaedra Parks’ donkey booty exercise video idea.

Moore has single-handedly hijacked this TV show with her personal storylines, and fans tune in to see what this diva will do next.

Some believe her behavior clearly contradicts her Miss USA legacy as a role model, but Moore doesn’t think so.

“I have to disagree with that. Miss USA is about owning who you are, being independent, being a leader, and I think that’s exactly who I’ve been on the show,” said the 42-year-old Detroit native.

But when things don’t go her way her horns pop out. She had her Moore Vision Media company produce a vengeful, yet comical, video spoof about her nemeses, Posrsha and Phaedra. She hired a drag queen as Porsha and an obese woman wearing Phaedra’s infamous fishnet bathing suit to portray Phaedra. She also had a Walter look-alike.

She justifies her behavior and middle-aged women fighting on national TV as merely a part of everyone’s everyday life.

“This is a reality show, and you’re capturing people’s lives. In anyone’s life, if you follow them around, there’s going to be conflict, there’s going to be disagreements — I don’t think anyone is exempt from those things happening in real life.”

Nonetheless, Moore has become the breakout star of this season’s “Real Housewives of Atlanta” with her funny one-liners – she calls Porsha “dumb-dumb” and said “she’s so dumb, she can’t even make coffee,” and twirled away from a near-fistfight with Porsha by saying the now popular catch-phrase: “Gone-with-the-Wind fabulous.”

Beauty queen winners tend to disappear once they finish their reigns. Not Moore. After the beauty pageant and before reality TV, she had roles in movies such as “Trois” and “I Know Who Killed Me.”

Perhaps Moore’s gauche shenanigans are part of a calculated move to become the next NeNe Leakes, who has successfully transcended into a sought-after Hollywood actress with a role on the hit comedy “The New Normal,” or get her own spinoff show like Kim Zolciak.

“For me, being a part of mainstream again, that is one of the obvious benefits of being on any television show, let alone a top-rated reality show,” said Moore.

by Cherry Bañez, Special to the NNPA from The Philadelphia Tribune

(Photo: Former Miss USA Kenya Moore, second from right, is the break-out star on the new season of “Real Housewives of Atlanta.” – Photo/Bravo)